Current Students

Lauren Baggett is a first-year journalism HMJ student who also works as a graduate assistant with the New Media Institute. She earned her B.A. in magazine journalism from the University of Georgia in 2009 and then worked in sales and marketing in the Athens area. Her interest in health and wellness issues, specifically concerning mental wellness and nutrition, motivated her return to journalism.

Leigh Beeson is a second-year graduate student focusing on science and medical writing. She is a graduate assistant in UGA's Division of Marketing & Communications and a regular contributor to UGA's faculty and staff newspaper, Columns. She spent the summer interning in public affairs at the University of California, San Francisco, where she wrote on medical studies and scientific. Leigh earned a BA in communications from Augusta University and was editor-in-chief of the university newspaper.

Elizabeth Fite is a first-year graduate student and graduate assistant in the office of the senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. She graduated from Auburn University in 2012 with bachelor's degrees in journalism and English literature and a minor in political science. She is an Athens native and avid equestrian. As an HMJ student, she is especially interested in women's health, nutrition and veterinary medicine.

Christina Kirchner is a second-year graduate student, focusing on health and the business side of medicine. She also has an interest in health insurance and medical writing. She is currently a graduate assistant in Grady Sports Media, but manages a few projects along with her teaching assistant role. Christina earned her BA in journalism and German from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.

Victoria Knight is a first-year HMJ graduate student and graduate assistant at WUGA-FM, the Athens-area NPR station. In 2014, she earned a bachelor's degree in microbiology, with a minor in English literature, from the University of Tennessee After graduation, she spent two years doing communications and marketing work for ORISE, a government contractor, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Her goal is to be an NPR reporter, covering global public health with an emphasis on infectious disease and women's health.

As a second-year HMJ student, Sandra L. McGill has written for publications including Georgia Health News, UGA's Grady Newsource, and the College of Veterinary Medicine's alumni magazine, The Aesculapian. She's covered topics ranging from mental health in the foster care system to cystic fibrosis care and treatment, reporting from locations in South Georgia and in Ohio. As a graduate assistant, she edits technical articles for the Athens-based branch of the National Park System's Southeast Coast Network.

Meera Naqvi graduated from the University of Georgia in 2010 with a B.A. in Philosophy. She is active in the Athens community as a volunteer for organizations helping women, children and families; she is also a certified yoga instructor who teaches classes locally. As a journalist she plans to focus on issues of public health and social justice.

What happens when a medical school opens a new campus within a major state university? What if that state university is the flagship institution for a state in desperate need of more medical professionals?

From the dean down through the first students, from a temporary location into a brand new campus, the new MCG-UGA Medical Partnership will affect all aspects of life in Athens - the students, the faculty, the administration, the hospitals and the residents.

Through a series of documentaries, students in the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication’s Health and Medical Journalism program are exposing what the new school will mean to the community and the state.